The Medicine Bag 1  
 
 
Voice, text, film; producing multimedia texts in South 
Africa ? a case study of ?The Medicine Bag? 
 
Elizabeth Louw 
 
 
African Literature, School of Literature and Language Studies 
University of the Witwatersrand 
 
A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the 
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in fulfilment of the requirements for a Masters by 
Coursework. 
 
Johannesburg, February 2006 
 
 
?? it [the text] is a moving mosaic (text, image, sound), an unpredictable sequence 
of bifurcations, a nonhierachical, unpredetermined crossroad where each reader 
can invent his own course along a network of communication nodes?.1 
 
                                                
1 Debray (145) 
The Medicine Bag 2  
 
 
Declaration 
 
I declare that this research report is my own unaided work. It is submitted for the degree 
of Masters by Coursework in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. It has 
not been submitted before for any degree or examination in any other university. 
 
_______________________________ 
 
Elizabeth Louw 
 
15 February 2006 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Medicine Bag 3  
 
 
 
 Acknowledgements 
 
I would like to thank Professor Isabel Hofmeyr for her stimulating guidance and 
friendly support. 
  
Without support and participation from the Schwarz family, especially Letitia and her 
mother Marie Petersen, this project would not have happened. 
 
The documentary and aspects of this study were made possible with financial assistance 
from The Rock Art Research Unit at the University of the Witwatersrand, 
Johannesburg, the National Film and Video Foundation and the National Lottery 
Distribution Trust Fund.  
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Medicine Bag 4  
 
 
 
 
 
 
In memoriam 
Hans Schwartz  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Medicine Bag 5  
 
 
ABSTRACT 
 
This paper considers the interaction between the process of producing a documentary 
video film ?The Medicine Bag? and an indigenous knowledge system from the Northern 
Cape where herbalists or traditional healers are known as ! aixa (Qaiga). These healers 
use indigenous plants and other raw materials, sounds, rubbing or massaging 
techniques, incisions and other methods to heal or to harm members of the community. 
The Schwartz family, Namas who hail from this region, have for many years passed the 
knowledge and the skills for healing on from generation to generation. For as long as 
the family can remember, members of each generation, specially gifted and interested in 
acquiring these skills, have been selected and trained to recognise and harvest medical 
plants, prepare medicines and apply the various skills required to heal the sick. The raw 
herbs, potions and medicines have been kept in a medicine bag, made from a tanned 
springbuck hide.  
 
Research for a documentary video to record oral accounts and practices attached to the 
medicine bag, revealed various themes related to the interaction between oral accounts 
and the process of recording and transcribing these narratives. These themes included 
the absence of a fixed storyline or a single ?correct? text as is often assumed when one 
engages with written literature; shifts in meaning that occur when the physical forms of 
the accounts change as each recording or re-editing acquires a ?performative aura? and 
issues such as the importation of cultural authority and resources on the participants, 
their active participation in the process of memory and archive creation as well as the 
impact of the process on the filmmaker/researcher that included an enriched 
understanding of the scope and possibilities of working with oral texts 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Medicine Bag 6  
 
 
INDEX 
 
CHAPTER ONE: The Medicine Bag ? A case study of translating and structuring 
oral accounts into a documentary film, 9      
   
CHAPTER TWO: Researching the documentary video - Following the trail of a 
portable story, 20 
 
CHAPTER THREE: Production ? Recording the audio-visual narrative, 46  
 
CHAPTER FOUR: Postproduction ? Analysing the process, 96 
 
 
CHAPTER FIVE: Conclusion, 110 
 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Interview details and cited sources, 117 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Medicine Bag 7  
 
 
THE SCHWARTZ FAMILY TREE 
 
A list of the descendants of // Ahab April Schwartz who participated or featured in 
The Medicine Bag documentary production process: 
 
//Ahab?s Children  
 
1.  Hans Schwartz 
 
2.  Susanna ?Oussietjie? Springbok (nee Schwartz) 
 Her daughter: Marie Springbok 
 
3.   Abraham ?Attie? Schwartz (Deceased) 
   His wife: Katriena Hendriena ?Tina? Schwartz (nee Louw) 
  Their children: Abraham Schwartz 
       Elizabeth ?Elsa? Smith (nee Schwartz) 
 
4.  Marie Petersen (nee Schwartz) 
  Her children: Letitia Timas Petersen 
Junior ?Boeta? Petersen  
Lynette Petersen